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Utah MBB vs. Utah Valley Postgame Quotes
Utah vs. Utah Valley Game Quotes
Utah 87, Utah Valley 80
Dec. 6, 2016
Huntsman Center
Utah Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
On the close finish…
We haven’t had a game like this, to where it came down to final possessions. A lot of credit goes to that team, they were down and came back to make a ball game out of it. With the exception of Poydras, I think we did a good job defending the three-point line … we kept a lot of guys below their averages. We made more adjustments to the pick-and-roll game tonight than we have all season as well, and we weren’t as engaged as we needed to be. The air went out of the building when they took the three-point lead, and this is a team that hasn’t been in that type of situation before, and couldn’t be more proud of how they responded. A lot of things had to come together for us to preserve a win against a really good team.
On defending UVU…
We took away the shooters around the outside, and at the end of the day it came down to the two-man game, and they did a better job. From an offensive point of view, this team doesn’t stand around, and so there was one possession where we did a good job of defending the pick-and-roll, and then on the next possession we decided that we would quit guarding right after the pick, setting up the big man. We’ve got to work on finishing out defensive possessions so plays like that don’t happen, just some plays our guys quit. We’re going to watch the film from this game, and learn from it.
On the players having composure in the final minutes of a game…
This one was awesome, but it’s all about having composure and stepping up to the line, making shots, and making defensive plays. This was one of JoJo’s better offensive games, and he also did a good job of stepping up and guarding on defense. That’s what this team is about, that’s what you have to do. Its not necessarily about one player’s performance, its about the team as a whole, but I’m glad that JoJo stepped up in those final minutes for us and I expect him to continue to develop. I know JoJo in particular is getting more comfortable, we had visited a few times and he just talked about how he has been thinking too much. I think as the season goes on, he’s getting more and more comfortable and we are seeing some great improvement from him.
- - - - -
Utah Valley Head Coach Mark Pope
On the game…
We played a great game. We competed like we have proven so far in the season. As a coach, I need to do better for my guys. As a staff, we have to do better for our guys. There’s a lot of stuff we left on the table that we could have done better. Utah is a great team and they have proven that again tonight. We just need to get better.
On not coming in to the game intimidated…
My guys have already been at Gonzaga, at BYU, and at Michigan State. I think we are well beyond that. We just have to be a little tighter with our defensive game plan. We have to be a little bit more forceful with demanding the pace of the game that we want. Utah did a nice job today with slowing us down and we can’t allow that. We have to grow there and I have to help my guys go there and we will. Our goal is four months from now and we are getting better every day and every game because my guys re competing everyday at practice and every game. They are trying so hard to do what we ask them to do. It is just a learning process.
On Isaac Neilson in the paint…
Isaac Neilson has been extraordinary. He is playing great. Utah is smart. They put together a game plan where they said we are not coming off shooters and are playing two-on-two basketball between the lane lines. Brandon [Randolph] did a great job decision-making and Isaac [Neilson] did a great job finishing. As a head coach and as a staff, we didn’t help our guys out enough tonight. Isaac Nielson, what he has done in his first handful of games is extraordinary. I am really, really proud of him. He has gone through some really hard things and things that would break a lot of guys. He didn’t. He went to work and put on thirty pounds. He is working timelessly at his game every single day and our team has been the fruit of that, as well as great play from our guards finding him and getting him the ball, a team effort. We just have a few cracks we need to clean up.
On resiliency of his team…
Our guys have proven that they are going to compete. I am as proud of that as anything. We were down 27 on the road and came back and won. We were down 21 on the road and came back and almost won a game. Tonight, we got down 13 or so I think at one point and our guys are going to fight. We can’t ever lose that. We just have to help our guys, execute our defensive game plan a little bit better and force more pace. Our recipe is really simple and if we can do that we will have a chance to win these games and a lot more games. We just have to get better.
Utah 87, Utah Valley 80
Dec. 6, 2016
Huntsman Center
Utah Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
On the close finish…
We haven’t had a game like this, to where it came down to final possessions. A lot of credit goes to that team, they were down and came back to make a ball game out of it. With the exception of Poydras, I think we did a good job defending the three-point line … we kept a lot of guys below their averages. We made more adjustments to the pick-and-roll game tonight than we have all season as well, and we weren’t as engaged as we needed to be. The air went out of the building when they took the three-point lead, and this is a team that hasn’t been in that type of situation before, and couldn’t be more proud of how they responded. A lot of things had to come together for us to preserve a win against a really good team.
On defending UVU…
We took away the shooters around the outside, and at the end of the day it came down to the two-man game, and they did a better job. From an offensive point of view, this team doesn’t stand around, and so there was one possession where we did a good job of defending the pick-and-roll, and then on the next possession we decided that we would quit guarding right after the pick, setting up the big man. We’ve got to work on finishing out defensive possessions so plays like that don’t happen, just some plays our guys quit. We’re going to watch the film from this game, and learn from it.
On the players having composure in the final minutes of a game…
This one was awesome, but it’s all about having composure and stepping up to the line, making shots, and making defensive plays. This was one of JoJo’s better offensive games, and he also did a good job of stepping up and guarding on defense. That’s what this team is about, that’s what you have to do. Its not necessarily about one player’s performance, its about the team as a whole, but I’m glad that JoJo stepped up in those final minutes for us and I expect him to continue to develop. I know JoJo in particular is getting more comfortable, we had visited a few times and he just talked about how he has been thinking too much. I think as the season goes on, he’s getting more and more comfortable and we are seeing some great improvement from him.
- - - - -
Utah Valley Head Coach Mark Pope
On the game…
We played a great game. We competed like we have proven so far in the season. As a coach, I need to do better for my guys. As a staff, we have to do better for our guys. There’s a lot of stuff we left on the table that we could have done better. Utah is a great team and they have proven that again tonight. We just need to get better.
On not coming in to the game intimidated…
My guys have already been at Gonzaga, at BYU, and at Michigan State. I think we are well beyond that. We just have to be a little tighter with our defensive game plan. We have to be a little bit more forceful with demanding the pace of the game that we want. Utah did a nice job today with slowing us down and we can’t allow that. We have to grow there and I have to help my guys go there and we will. Our goal is four months from now and we are getting better every day and every game because my guys re competing everyday at practice and every game. They are trying so hard to do what we ask them to do. It is just a learning process.
On Isaac Neilson in the paint…
Isaac Neilson has been extraordinary. He is playing great. Utah is smart. They put together a game plan where they said we are not coming off shooters and are playing two-on-two basketball between the lane lines. Brandon [Randolph] did a great job decision-making and Isaac [Neilson] did a great job finishing. As a head coach and as a staff, we didn’t help our guys out enough tonight. Isaac Nielson, what he has done in his first handful of games is extraordinary. I am really, really proud of him. He has gone through some really hard things and things that would break a lot of guys. He didn’t. He went to work and put on thirty pounds. He is working timelessly at his game every single day and our team has been the fruit of that, as well as great play from our guards finding him and getting him the ball, a team effort. We just have a few cracks we need to clean up.
On resiliency of his team…
Our guys have proven that they are going to compete. I am as proud of that as anything. We were down 27 on the road and came back and won. We were down 21 on the road and came back and almost won a game. Tonight, we got down 13 or so I think at one point and our guys are going to fight. We can’t ever lose that. We just have to help our guys, execute our defensive game plan a little bit better and force more pace. Our recipe is really simple and if we can do that we will have a chance to win these games and a lot more games. We just have to get better.